Saving Seafood

Modified groundfish nets limit killer whale entanglements

November 4, 2025 — A large mesh panel, known as a “killer whale fence,” in Bering Sea deep-water flatfish trawl gear is proving successful at preventing killer whale entanglement in the lucrative commercial flounder and sole fisheries.

The modified gear, first tested fleetwide in 2024, resulted in a single entanglement for the whole summer season.  The fleet’s 2025 season ended without any mortalities, according to an Oct. 28 report by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The net modification was developed through a collaborative effort between UAF researcher Hannah Myers and the Alaska Seafood Cooperative, which coordinates a fleet targeting flounder and sole.  For 2023, the Bering Sea commercial flounder and sole fisheries were valued at over $45 million combined. Key species in this fishery complex include yellowfin sole and flathead sole, along with other flatfish managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Groundfish captains working in the summer fishery first began noticing significantly more killer whale activity around their nets starting about 2020. Then, in 2023, there was a sudden rise in the entanglement of orcas in their nets.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Environmentalist group sues to gain information about Alaska trawler toll on marine mammals

December 20, 2024 — The federal government has failed to give adequate information on deaths of killer whales and other marine mammals that become entangled in commercial trawling gear in Alaska waters, claims a lawsuit filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

The lawsuit, filed by the environmental group Oceana, targets the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The whales and other marine mammals killed in fishing gear are subjects of what is known as bycatch, the unintended, incidental catch of species that are not the harvest target.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

New study of salmon abundance prompts a rethink of endangered killer whale decline

November 26, 2024 — King salmon, or chinook, are a critical part of the diet of Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). The population of Southern Residents has been dangerously low for decades, at around 75 members.

Research into this problem focuses on the habitat, and especially the availability of chinook. There is a preponderance of evidence correlating, for example, low birth rates among Southern Residents to years of low abundance of chinook. There are also statistical models that point to the same conclusion: Southern Residents aren’t getting enough of what they need to thrive.

But no one has ever gone out and counted the chinook in the Southern Resident habitat – until now.

“And what we found was the opposite of what we expected, what was predicted,” said Dr. Andrew Trites, “the prevalence of chinook was double in the Southern Resident Killer Whale habitat.”

Trites is the director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. He expected his research to confirm the premise that Southern Residents lacked a readily available supply of chinook – not upend it.

Read the full article at KCAW

WASHINGTON: Environmental settlement to close two Washington fish hatchery programs

October 11, 2024 — An environmental lawsuit accusing federally-funded fish hatchery programs of contributing to the decline of threatened salmon and steelhead and endangering the orcas that prey on wild salmon ended on Thursday in a settlement that will see the closure of two Washington state fishery programs and the reduction of a third.

Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler filed a lawsuit against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in April, arguing that the department’s Lower Columbia River basin hatchery programs violated the Endangered Species Act.

Now, the Washougal River winter steelhead hatchery program is set to close at the beginning of next year, according to the consent decree, which both parties filed in September and U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle signed on Thursday.

The Deep River net pens coho salmon program has until April to close, and the Kalama River/Fallert Creek Chinook salmon hatchery program will limit its release to 1.9 million fish in 2025.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

NOAA releases biological opinion suggesting salmon fishing can continue in Southeast Alaska

October 8, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has released documentation that will allow salmon fishing to continue in Southeast Alaska more than a year after a judge attempted to shut down commercial salmon harvesting.

In May 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled that a 2019 biological opinion used to authorize commercial salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska was flawed because it did not adequately consider how fishing would impact southern resident killer whales. In his opinion, the judge removed the fishery’s so-called take statement authorization, effectively ending any commercial salmon fishing operations in the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Scientists unearth key clues to cuisine of resident killer whale populations

September 21, 2024 — A team led by researchers at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has uncovered key information about what resident killer whale populations are eating. Researchers had long known that resident killer whales—also known as resident orcas—prefer to hunt fish, particularly salmon. But some populations thrive, while others have struggled. Scientists have long sought to understand the role that diet plays in these divergent fates.

“Killer whales are incredibly intelligent, and learn foraging strategies from their matriarchs, who know where to find the richest prey resources in their regions,” said Amy Van Cise, UW assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, who began this study as a postdoctoral researcher with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “So we wanted to know: Does all of that social learning affect  preferences in different populations of resident killer whales, or in pods within populations?”

In a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Van Cise and her colleagues report the cuisine preferences of two resident killer whale populations: the Alaska residents and the southern residents, which reside primarily in the Salish Sea and off the coast of Washington, Oregon and northern California.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

Why Can’t Killer Whales Find and Capture Food? The Ocean Is too Noisy

September 12, 2024 — New research shows that vessel noise—the rumble and churn of boats and ships—disrupts killer whales’ ability to find and capture food. This can have serious consequences for these whales, especially considering the challenges they already face. The findings were published recently in the scientific journal, Global Change Biology.

How Killer Whales Hunt and Why Noise Matters

Killer whales are sophisticated hunters. They use echolocation, a kind of biological sonar. They emit clicks that bounce off objects, creating echoes that help them “see” with sound. These echoes they receive back are crucial for finding prey, especially fast-moving salmon. The underwater noise made by vessels can be particularly disruptive for animals like killer whales, which rely heavily on sound to accomplish important activities like hunting.

Researchers wanted to know how vessel noise interferes with killer whales’ foraging success. So, they attached special tags to killer whales that recorded their movements and the sounds they made and heard. By comparing these data to noise levels, they could see a clear connection. As the noise from vessels increased, the whales’ foraging success decreased. They spent more time searching for prey, but with less success.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

NOAA finalizing impact analysis of Alaska’s troll fishery on Southern Resident killer whales

June 17, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries is finalizing documents that will serve as a response to a lawsuit that resulted in the near-cancellation of Southeast Alaska’s commercial Chinook salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska in 2023.

The announcement is the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit between environmental group Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) and the U.S. government. WFC sued NOAA Fisheries in 2020, claiming that the commercial Chinook salmon harvest and government-funded hatchery programs were taking prey needed by Southern Resident killer whales, starving them in the process. In 2021, a district court ruled in favor of WFC, finding flaws in the official documentation and that analysis was needed to allow commercial fishing operations.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

North Pacific Orcas Might Be Reclassified As 2 Distinct Species—Here’s Why

May 9, 2024 — Orcas, also known as killer whales, are incredible creatures. Their undeniable intelligence, complex social structures, impressive communication skills and collaborative hunting strategies have captured the wonder of humans for centuries.

Despite their name, “killer whales” aren’t true whales–they are, in fact, “oceanic dolphins.” Generally, whales tend to be larger and have more elongated bodies compared to dolphins.

Orcas and other oceanic dolphins typically have more streamlined, agile bodies with pronounced beaks and a dorsal fin that is often more prominent and curved. In contrast, many whale species have larger, bulkier bodies with smaller dorsal fins relative to their size.

Read the full article at Forbes

Trawl vessels caught 10 killer whales in ’23 off Alaska, federal agency says

September 25, 2023 — A federal agency that takes an active role in “shaping international ocean, fisheries, climate, space and weather policies” reported last week one of its teams is “evaluating data collected” on 10 killer whales incidentally caught in Alaska by Bering Sea and Aleutian Island groundfish trawl fisheries in 2023.

In a statement, NOAA Fisheries, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said just one whale ended up being released alive. For the other nine, the agency is in the process of determining the cause of injury or death and which stocks these whales belong to through a review of genetic information.

In addition, NOAA Fisheries is reviewing information regarding “a killer whale incidentally caught during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s longline survey for sablefish and groundfish this summer.” The agency added that on June 7, a dead killer whale was observed entangled in gear on the Central Bering Sea slope.

Read the full article at KIRO